162 



Morten P. Porsild. 



Fig. 21, a and b are a couple of pieces belonging to a bow-stave 

 from a grave at Disco Fjord ; they have been gathered at the junction with 

 three bone nails of which one still remains. Round the notch which 

 should connect them with the centre piece there are holes with counter- 

 sunk grooves for the sewing with sinew-thread. The piece is overgrown 

 with fruit-bearing crustaceous lichens and is very old. 



The arrows of these bows (qarssoq, 134) were about one metre long. 

 They consisted of a very light wooden shaft of imarswik (Picea sp.) and 

 a bone point, {narqua, 237) sometimes with an inserted blade, (ulua). 

 Above, the shaft was provided with a socket for the bone-point, narqu- 



ler/ia "its place for applying the 

 ^ ^ ^ point," below, with a notch (eqia, 66) 



for the string, both ends being secured 

 against splitting with a lashing of sinew 

 thread, (nerma, 249). In addition the 

 lower end was provided with two 

 feathers, (suliie, 345) of raven, or on 

 the smaller arrows, of ptarmigan. The 

 tip and half of the vane were cut off so 

 that the feather rib came near the 

 shaft, to which it was fastened with 

 two lashings. 



The form of the bone points varied 

 greatly, they were ordinarily blunt for 

 ptarmigan, but otherwise were double- 

 edged, cutting, with or without barbs 

 or points and with several barbs in 

 unilateral succession, the one above the 

 other. Some good illustrations are to 

 be found in Nordenskiöld's "Den andra Dicksonska expedition till 

 Grönland," p. 481. 



С Ryder has already pointed out (loc. cit. p. 310) that bone 

 arrow-points from Scoresby Sound in East Greenland were fixed in 

 their wooden shafts by means of tangs having small slanting knobs 

 and that the knobs form part of the thread of a lefthanded screw. 

 The same author has also stated that such attempts at screws are 

 frequently found on West-Greenland arrowpoints, in some cases with 

 a complete thread of a screw in high-relief, and has given an expla- 

 nation of the method of the manufacture of these screws. 



Other examples are mentioned by W. Thalbitzer (loc. cit. p. 365), 

 Around Disco Bay arrowpoints with screw-bearing tenons are very 

 common and I may add that I have seen similar specimens in the 

 hands of other collectors from the districts of Egedesminde, Holsten- 

 borg and Godthaab (see Fig. 22). 



This seems a very interesting fact as it has sometimes been said 



Fig. 22. a, b, Two examples of spiral 

 ridges or slanting knobs on the hinder 

 end of the bone point of arrows; 

 c, the extreme portion of a panga- 

 ligtoq with double barbs. 



